SanDisk Starts Shipping X4 Flash Cards, Will Eventually Be Awesome

SanDisk's X4 tech packs four bits of data into each memory cell, compared with the typical one or two bits. That means they'll be able to far exceed the 32GB limit on SDHC, microSDHC and others, and they've started shipping.

Right now, they're only shipping in 8GB and 16GB capacities, which have been long available, but soon they'll be releasing 64GB and even higher flash memory. The X4 tech doesn't yet extend to SSDs, though it's not really clear why, but it's still great news for us gadget hounds. Many smartphones, especially those running Android, WinMo and BlackBerry OS, rely on microSDHC cards for memory, and a 64GB or even higher capacity card would make those much more viable as, say, multimedia machines. SanDisk assures us that the price will not skyrocket, which is a relief. X4 chips should start appearing in stores very soon. [CNET]